CHAPTER VIII 



FISHERIES FOR WHALES 



WHALES are the most important members of a large 

 family of land animals including also the seals, walrus, 

 and porpoise, that have gradually become adapted to 

 live in the sea. They have acquired an externally 

 fish-like form, but in every other respect they retain 

 the characteristic features of mammalian structure. 

 They are warm-blooded, air-breathing quadrupeds, that 

 suckle their young. In the whale, the fore-limbs have 

 become simple five-fingered nippers, while only isolated, 

 vestigial bones of the hind-limbs remain buried uselessly 

 in the body. Unlike fishes, the tail is set horizontally, 

 thus enabling the creature to rise easily to the surface 

 to breathe. The warm-blooded body is kept warm by 

 a layer of fat placed immediately beneath the skin, 

 and varying in thickness from 8 to 20 ins., and known as 

 the blubber. The nostrils, instead of being situated at 

 the end of the snout, are placed far back at the apex of 

 the head to form the blowhole. 



Whales are divided into two well-marked groups, 

 known as the whaleboned and the toothed whales 

 respectively, according to the particular form of their 

 dentition. 



The most important of the whaleboned whales is the 

 Greenland, or Arctic Right, whale. It attains a length 

 of upwards of 45 to 50ft., and is remarkable for the 

 enormous extent of its head and mouth cavity. The 

 head extends for a third of the length of the body, so 

 that the mouth cavity may be as much as 18 ft. long, 

 12ft. broad and 11 ft. in height, the dimensions of a 

 small chapel ! The upper jaw is narrower than the 

 lower and arches backwards, thus increasing the actual 



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